overture
by electrikitty
Summary: they say life has a soundtrack… so what music would you play during the darkest time of your life? / the royal tutor / one-shot / originally from 'royal tutor collection'


**Overture**

_Based on Chapter 28: The Price of the Past_

Bruno didn't have many chances to be happy at military academy.

It was hard to find the time. He was too busy.

Too busy being held up in the corridors, being choked, being chained to a wall by the other students' hands and eyes.

Too busy trying to hide his bruises from Kai's searching gaze.

Too busy staring at the ceiling late at night, with tears staining his skin. Wondering if they were right. If the world would be a better place if he were dead.

…Just so busy.

But there were still a couple of brief moments of happiness. Just a few. One of them was on September 19th.

The prince had finished with his schoolwork, earlier than the others.

They'd hated him for it.

He had finished and handed in all his assignments for the week, quietly, yet the teacher pulled him up short and praised him in front of the entire class.

Now they all probably wanted him dead.

And now Bruno was stranded at the academy, waiting for Kai to finish his cannon firing drills with the second-years so that they could go home.

Bruno had brought his violin along today, rightly guessing that he would have time to fill in. They'd made him suffer for that.

_Pretty boy._

_It's not an army instrument. _

_He's got time to fill in? Then he should learn how to play a bugle call properly, d_it._

It was that, or correcting them and being tormented for being able to play any instrument. He chose to get harassed for playing the violin instead.

Bruno shouldered the violin and leaned against the frame of an open window, tuning the strings. Faint cannon fire blasted in a regular rhythm below, and the glass of the windows shook slightly. Sometimes it faltered or dropped the beat altogether, with a yelp from the student who had messed up their timing. The art of firing cannons was a lot more unpredictable and complex than the 'strike a match and light the fuse' affair that most people were familiar with. Kai was down there with the others, his smile and hair streaked with grey.

Bruno paused. Then with a smile also, he began playing the final part of the '1812 Overture' in time with the cannon fire. He danced through the tune and coaxed the vibrant notes from the strings, in an outrageous attempt to keep in tune with the less-than-orderly percussion below.

He didn't expect anyone to hear it, especially over the roar of cannon fire. And he would feel terrible if it seemed as though he were disrupting the class. But on seeing Kai glance up at him with a slight grin, he realised that he hadn't banked on his older brother's sharp hearing. He smiled back. Even one or two of the other students glanced up between bursts of cannon fire and grinned as well, to which the drill sergeant was completely oblivious.

Bruno played the final notes of the piece, then drew the bow off the strings. He exhaled. His heart felt a lot lighter. Lighter than it had in weeks. He packed the violin back into its case and slipped out of the room, finding a stairwell and making his way down to the ground floor. Maybe he would even make it to the carriage without incident, for once…

Ice trickled down his spine and pooled at his waist, at the sight of Ralph von Fuches walking down the corridor.

_…Or not. _

You could call it a skill — the ability to attack and toy with your opponent all at once. Ralph passed him and whispered in his blind spot. 'Pretty playing, Prince.'

Then Bruno was slammed against the wall. He nearly dropped the violin. Ralph's eyes narrowed. 'Trying to bewitch the teachers with that thing? Teacher's pet. Useless. _Nothing_.'

Bruno squeezed his eyes shut — _it's fine it's fine everything's fine _— but the words slipped in through the cracks, chipping away at his heart.

'Drop _dead_, Prince,' Ralph said softly. 'Or I can take that d_ bow and put it through your little princeling heart.'

Blood was acidic, and capable of corroding marble. If he were to die here, then Bruno's death would permanently stain the floor. A lonely reminder. Would anyone even care if he disappeared —

Ralph glanced down the hall, then stepped back and picked up Bruno's violin, pressing it into his hands.

Bruno stared at it. It usually ended like this. With someone coming down the hall and Ralph smoothly wiping away any trace of what had taken place just prior.

Bruno left and walked down the hall. It was funny. He wasn't dead, but he already felt like a ghost —

The person coming down the hall was Kai.

He strode over, eyes flicking from Ralph to Bruno to the clumsily-held violin case. '…Bruno?'

'Are you all right, Prince?' Ralph asked, and Bruno didn't have to look back to know that he was piling on the fake concern.

Bruno passed Kai, but his brother pulled him back. 'Bruno — '

'I'm fine, Kai. I just had a dizzy spell. I dropped my violin. That's all.'

Kai looked over at Ralph again. His eyes narrowed. Then he rested a hand on Bruno's shoulder, startling him, and guided him down the corridor.

Bruno kept his eyes on the floor. Ignoring the students that always watched and talked and whispered when he passed. Yet it felt so much safer with Kai's arm around his shoulder.

'Bruno… tell me if you're in trouble. All right? If anything happens… you can tell me.'

_Kai_… If only he knew how the words made Bruno's heart hurt. But it was a much sweeter kind of pain.

He glanced up at his brother, and shook his head with a smile. This was his cross to carry, alone. 'It's fine, Kai. Thank you, though'

There were a few brief moments of happiness. Just a few.

Before it all shattered forever in a spray of blood and glass.

_The End_

* * *

**A/N: **As people who read 'Overture' in the 'Royal Tutor Collection' may remember, Samuraiko filled everyone in on the context for this story in a review (because word-count constraints did not permit me to do it myself)…

In summary: After Ko read 'One Lively Tempest,' the first thing to pop into her head was 'why didn't Electrikitty reference the 1812 Overture, etc., etc.…' (because I have no knowledge of classical music, but that's beside the point), so naturally I vowed to write an '1812 Overture' story before the week was out or else cosplay as one of the princes at the mall. I whipped this off right before the deadline, so alas, no cosplay — but we got our story in the end!

Reviews welcome, and thanks for reading!


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